The Virtual Reality

Preston Ball

Professor Ellis

EN387

13 March 2018

Connection Between Oasis and Wade’s Life

Though much of the ending to the Book Ready Player One takes play in the virtual reality, it is amazing how things in the virtual reality are connected to the real world. At the onset of the novel I believed that Oasis was an escape from earthly reality however the course of the novel demonstrates that Oasis is truly an extension of real life.

            As Sorrento begins to hunt Wade in real life, after being unable to stop Parzival in the game, real life casualties begin to follow. Sorrento blows up Aunt Alice’s trailer killing her even though Wade narrowly escapes. Later in the Book Daito gets through out of a window in real life and is also killed. These two instances demonstrate that the Oasis world and the Physical world are inherently connected.

            At the end of the book Sorrento is arrested. He is not put in a virtual prison but, I assume he is put in a real life prison. The connection between online life and in-person life is one the world is currently wrestling with, whether it be in the form of online catfishing or online child predators or online bullying. It is too easy for people, to hide behind a computer screen or in the case of Sorrento turn a game in to a real life fight for life and death. Ready Player One demonstrates beautifully how a game is an extension of life and how people can abuse it.